Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone
Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone is becoming the most common approach with agents. While there certainly are many agents selling face to face, phone sales has grown in popularity. The business was trending this way but has been accelerated by COVID.
Read below to learn how to start making sales without face to face meetings.
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General concepts and things to know when getting started
There are some basics people need to understand when selling Medicare Advantage over the phone. For those that have already been selling Medicare on a face to face basis, phone sales can be a big adjustment. In part, this is due to the difference in closing ratio between face to face and phone. To a degree, it can be easier to get started with phone sales for those that have not sold face to face in the past. The challenge for the new agent, not familiar with Medicare is learning the benefits and rules. (of which there are many)
Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone: The positives and negatives
Selling by phone has some major advantages. A phone sales agent is able to solicit and work more leads than a face to face agent. They are not spending time on the road or engaging in long conversations in the office. As a result, they can talk to many more people in a given day. The drawback is the closing ratio will be much lower by phone than it will be face to face. An agent selling face to face may close 80% or higher. The best case scenario for a phone sales agent is 20% but even that would be on the highest end of the scale. In other words, a phone agent must be able to accept failure much more often. The benefit is they can speak to far more people in a day.
Types of leads for phone sales
Leads are essential with phone sales. Without lead volume, the agent is going to be sitting around a lot and not making money. There are certain types of leads that work best when selling Medicare advantage over the phone. The lead types most commonly used with phone sales are:
- Inbound call leads
- Warm transfer leads
- Call back recorded leads
- Online or data leads
We have leads available through LeadStar: Click to learn more
Other lead types such as mailers can be used for phone sales but are not as efficient. Make note, there are subtle differences between the call leads but the process to work them is the same. Online leads of any type are a different set up and approach given the nature of them.
Importance of tracking leads to determine a CPA
When working any of type of leads for phone sales, it is critical to track results. Many agents focus on the cost per lead (CPL) vs. the cost per acquisition (CPA). Some agents may shy away from certain leads due to the price. At the end of the day, what really matters is how many of them you close for the cost. If I am getting call back leads at $12 each but I only close 1 out of 20 vs. a $40 lead and you close 5 out of 20, the CPA comes out better on the $40 lead. Tracking all results is the only way you can determine which lead type is giving you the best CPA.
Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone: Set up to sell
The set up is different for phone vs. online lead sales. We will focus on the phone set up and what agents need to do in order to start taking in leads and working them effectively. The basic steps are listed below:
Access to Medicare plan quoting comparison and enrollment platform
Agents need to be able to quickly quote and compare plans when talking with prospects. They need to be able to see all available plans in a given area side by side and be able to see the benefits of each. It is important to see benefits amounts for things like dental, vision, OTC, grocery and Flex cards. Sunfire, MyMedicarebot or Connecture are the 3 most common platforms agents work with. CSG also offers the ability to quote and compare but the system does not have the ability to check medications, save profiles or enroll prospects. Many agents still us the Medicare.gov plan finder. The system works but profiles can only be saved if the client creates one. More importantly, if the member self enrolls the agent does not get listed as the AOR on the case.
Enrollment platform
Being able to enroll the members is obviously important. Medicare enrollments can be completed by voice signature or sending an enrollment link by text or email. Luckily, the quoting and comparison platforms also have an enrollment function
The 3 most commonly used systems to address this are Sunfire, Connecture and MyMedicarebot. Crowe and Associates gives agents access to all 3 platforms at no cost to the agent.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ENROLLMENT PLATFORMS
Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone: Call script
It is common for someone to focus on the idea of a set call script. In reality, there is not one script for calling all lead types. The script will vary slightly depending on the type of lead being called. (call back, warm transfer, live transfer, online) The overall concept is the same for all of them however. There are some basic skills that any good call agent will have. Watch the video below and and access the blog for more details on the script.
CLICK FOR CALL SCRIPT MEDICARE
Do you need a CRM?
This question comes up very often. A CRM is needed to track progress, call back prospects and also help automate other functions such as emails and social media posts. The 3 enrollment systems in Connect4Medicare all have basic CRM functions that will save client data and allow to schedule call backs. Many agents run successful practices using the basic functions of the built in CRM’s. For those looking for a CRM with more functionality, there are a number of systems out there but they will come at a cost. We have experience with a number of them. Most notably they are Blitz, Radius Bob, Less annoying CRM and Go High Level. There certainly are many more however.
Read a review of most commonly used insurance CRM systems
Selling Medicare Advantage over the phone: $500 a month toward lead costs
We give agents $500 a month toward lead and marketing costs. Click the link to learn more
$500 a month lead and marketing plan for agents
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